As mother of two teenagers and a receptionist for a large dental office in Vancouver, Leona was no stranger to stress. At 46 years old she felt like she finally had a handle on life’s stress, despite it never slowing down. No matter what, she could handle anything that was thrown her way. That was until the headaches started. Initially, she didn’t think anything of it. They weren’t severe and they were infrequent enough that they didn’t worry her. But while she was coping with them, her company made some major structural changes that put more responsibility on her...

At 38 years old, Todd was a relatively fit and healthy man. His job as a Call Service Agent in Edmonton meant that he was sitting for hours at a time, so he made it his priority to exercise for at least thirty minutes most days after work. He had a generally healthy diet, and while he felt that there was always more that he could be doing, he was satisfied with the way that he took care of his body. When Todd started to experience frequent heartburn, he initially did not understand the pain that he was feeling in his chest and throat. He had never suffered from this...

When we think of heart attacks, we often find ourselves picturing scenes from the movies. We remember that moment in Something’s Gotta Give where Harry (Jack Nicholson) collapses in pain after fooling around with his girlfriend, Marin (Amanda Pete). He flails about, wincing in pain, trying to deter Erica (Diane Keaton) from performing CPR. We think of the moment in The Godfather when Don Vito Corleone collapses suddenly while playing with his grandson in the tomato garden, dying almost instantly. We may even think of the silliness from Monty Python And The Holy Grail...

In 2018, the Liberal government put aside more than $622 million to bail out the LTD plan for Canada’s veterans, as part of the 2018 budget. Like other Canadians who find out that they must fight to recover their disability insurance benefits, veterans are no different, although they appear to also face chronic funding shortages that appear to contribute to claims being denied or cut off prematurely. SISIP stands for the Service Income Security Insurance Plan. The plan is underwritten by Manulife Financial who administer these claims much as they would any LTD plan...

Mental health often manifests without any physical symptoms. This can make it difficult to diagnose, which in turn can make it even more difficult to get a long-term disability claim recognized. Unlike a broken arm or a torn ACL, there’s simply no way to make an irrefutable mental health diagnosis based on an x-ray or an MRI. That’s why getting the support of a medical professional is absolutely essential when filing a long-term disability claim related to your mental health. A trained therapist will be able to corroborate your experience and verify that you have a...

We first met Walter when he was 37 years old. After a year of struggling with his mental health, he was looking for support for himself and his family. He was grateful to have found us, and we were lucky to be a part of his journey. As a truck driver, it was important for Walter to be fully engaged while driving. He was dealing with potentially dangerous situations on a daily basis, and there was little room for error. He had always been confident and focused at his job, but had recently begun to experience bouts of acute anxiety. Tasks that had seemed straightforward to...